This is a record of my journey as a Muslim. I used to be Catholic and belonged to a missionary organisation. After my conversion, I sat on the board of a Muslim converts' organisation and specialised in da'wah programmes, convert management, interfaith issues and apostasy cases. I am an initiate of a Sufi order. As such, the articles and writings tend to cover these areas.
All the Arabic and graphics could not have been done without the help of my wife, Zafirah.

Sunday, 14 March 2010

Conversation at the Park Bench

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

There was this person, Leonard, from the
Philippines. Back home, he was a
Christian evangelist and not the Catholic sort.
Understandably, he had rather firm views on God. One day, as he sat at a bench in the park
reading the Bible, a man came and sat down next to him. Two strangers sharing a bench at the park is
nothing unusual.

The stranger turned to him and asked, “Are you
reading the Bible?”

“Yes, I am,” he replied.

“That’s good.
Bible studies, huh?”

“Why, yes.”
And perhaps it crossed his mind that this was a great opportunity to
share his faith.

Before he could say anything, the stranger
asked him, “Have you tried reading the Qur’an?”

“Umm … No, haven’t.” Leonard was surprised. Certainly he was not expecting this and it
threw him off a bit.

“Maybe you should try it sometime.” And the stranger got up and left.

Leonard thought nothing much about it. But there were times when this was at the
back of his mind. Considering his social
circles, he did not know any Muslims.
Where was he supposed to get a Qur’an?
Sometime later, Leonard was posted to Singapore. For the first time, he encountered large
numbers of Muslims. Seeing one of the
office girls in a hijab in the
office, he recalled that conversation with the stranger years before. He approached one of the muslimah and asked, “Do you have a Qur’an?” Of course she did not. At least not in the office anyway. This is not a usual request at the office. But she did manage to direct him to where he
could buy a translation of the Qur’an.

Leonard bought the ‘Abdullah Yusuf ‘Ali
translation of the Qur’an. He went home
and read it like a book, from front page to back page. It took most of the day and all of the night. In his words, he said he could not put it
down. He felt as if the Qur’an was Speaking
to him. Once he was done, he decided
that this was it. Islam is the Truth and
the Qur’an is Divine in origin. He had
to convert. After some enquiry, he was
directed to the conversion centre in Singapore.
From teaching the Bible as the Word of God to the Qur’an as Kalamullah, this was his journey.